Malaysia: A study to assess cleanliness of coastlines

How clean are our coastlines? A study attempts to find out.
Rouwen Lin The Star 7 Jun 11;

It’s a beautiful morning at the Desaru beach in Johor and the day has just started for the group of people gathered there. It will be a good hour or so before the sun will be high in the sky and they are anxious to start on the day’s mission. Armed with rubbish bags and clipboards, they have the routine down pat by now. Everyone is familiar with the drill: divide an area on the beach into sections, collect all the bits and pieces of trash within the selected sections, and then sort, count and analyse.

It’s almost like a regular beach clean-up, but with a twist. With most beach clean-up initiatives, the most common measure of the level of cleanliness is the amount of litter collected. Although this is easily measured and provides a basis for comparison, more often than not it emphasises the effectiveness of the operation rather than the level of beach cleanliness.

“Measuring the success of each cleaning operation by the amount of litter cleared from the beach is not a standardised method of assessing its cleanliness. More litter collected doesn’t necessarily mean that the beach is particularly dirty. There could have just been more volunteers that day, it could have been just a dirty coastal stretch or maybe a large area was covered,” says Joanna Tang, senior researcher at the Centre for Coastal and Marine Environment (CMER) at Maritime Institute of Malaysia (MIMA).

So, for this beach clean-up, the focus is not on how many tonnes of rubbish is collected, but rather the quantity of plastic debris on the beach, presented as number of pieces of plastic debris per square metre of coastal area.

Plastic is chosen as the indicator as preliminary runs by the researchers suggest that plastic scraps account for the majority of rubbish on beaches.

It is also particularly harmful to the environment as it is non-biodegradable and will remain in the environment for a long time.

Clean coast index

This initiative is part of a study by MIMA researchers where the objective is to collect data to develop a Clean Coast Index (CCI) that can be used to assess the cleanliness of our coastlines.

“The objective of the study is to identify the amount, composition and distribution of coastal litter on selected beaches in an effort to establish a baseline for a CCI and start a virtual repository. There is currently no national funding for marine litter management and no comprehensive data being gathered on marine litter in the country. The absence of a central database is a major issue regarding litter management. After gathering and analysing the data, only then will we be able to identify the gaps in litter management and propose solutions to this problem,” says MIMA researcher and project coordinator Roa’a Hagir.

She suggests that local authori-ties or corporations tasked with the responsibility of maintaining the cleanliness of the beach use the CCI as a tool for measuring the progress and success of clean-up efforts.

Additionally, it can also serve to create awareness among the general public.

“The method we adopted for the CCI is not complicated and is easy to perform. Anyone can do it – for example, non-government organisations and schools during their beach clean-ups, as well as companies for their corporate social responsibility campaigns,” she says.

For the purpose of this study, plastic debris is defined as any artificial waste made (or partially made) of plastic, including plastic bags, plastic bottles and caps, nylon fishing lines and polystyrene remains. Plastic products account for the bulk of marine litter and it is estimated that there are 13,000 pieces of plastic litter floating on every square kilometre of ocean.

The Department of Environment has guidelines for assessing coastal water quality standards but there is no established index to assess the cleanliness of beaches in Malaysia. There is also no data identifying the sources of marine litter and where they accumulate.

With no systematic studies to ensure the cleanliness of beaches, no national coordinated marine litter survey and monitoring programme, and a lack of data on the extent and nature of the problem, efforts to assess the level of beach cleanliness and to ensure that it is adequately monitored have mostly been in vain.

Marine litter poses a dire threat to the marine and coastal environment. The hazards include entanglement and ingestion by marine animals, contamination of beaches, accumulation and dispersion of toxic substances, and interference with navigation at sea.

Marine litter can originate at sea (from ships and boats as well as offshore oil and gas platforms) or from land. When debris wash up and accumulate on the coast, it affects the aesthetics of the beach and costs local authorities thousands of ringgit each year through clean-up efforts. In Malaysia, this problem is escalating at an alarming rate.

Joint efforts

Working with the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS), the researchers at MIMA plan to sample eight beaches in seven states (Johor, Kedah, Pahang, Malacca, Selangor, Sabah and Sarawak) by the end of this month. Transects are performed on a 1km stretch of coastline from the water’s edge to the border of the coast.

“We decided to collaborate with the MNS on this project because it has branch offices in many states. It also has a pool of volunteers that we can tap into. We wanted a good representation of beaches across Malaysia and the eight beaches chosen were based on this requirement as well as the availability of volunteers,” says Tang.

From preliminary runs, the researchers observed that despite the availability of trash cans and Do Not Litter signs on the beach, people still leave their rubbish behind.

“I think even the local authorities are baffled as to why the bins are left empty and how it often ends up that there is a huge pile of rubbish beneath signs telling people they will be slapped with a hefty fine if caught littering,” she says.

There might be a general lack of enforcement of relevant laws and regulations, but the researchers believe that it would make a difference if the public adopted a more active role in looking after our beaches.

Roa’a adds that the long-term goals of the study include assessing marine litter management policies and legislation as well as recommending appropriate management proposals.

“Based on the findings of this study, we plan to come up with recommendations to increase public awareness on the magnitude of this problem. Awareness is very important if we want to improve the cleanliness of our beaches and we hope that the project will help with this. We plan to eventually fine-tune the method and move towards a more detailed, comprehensive study,” she concludes.